Shannon Larratt was the former editor and publisher of BMEZINE.COM, the largest and oldest full-spectrum body modification publication on the planet. He published a variety of books for BME Books, the most well-known being the ModCon Book. He was an established online author, artist, computer programmer, film producer, and business owner. Shannon began blogging on ModBlog again on August, 2012.

Brief Biography

Born September 29, 1973 in Victoria, BC, Canada. He lived in Toronto, Canada.

Moved to a farm in rural Ontario (Big Island, Prince Edward County) just before starting school.

German/Canadian citizen who spoke German almost exclusively until attending school.

His father, Richard, is a former Canadian wrestling champion, body builder, and computer professional (so Shannon grew up around computers). He is now an oil baron living on a boat running a sailing website.

His mother is also a computer programmer and is the former host of Venture on CBC, and is German royalty.

After graduating with top grades (high nineties) in high school, rather than pursuing a science degree, Shannon accepted a scholarship from York University for their BFA program, in part due to his high school thesis on the effects of LSD on artwork, although he left after the first year to start a computer business specializing in IVR (interactive voice response).

Shannon returned to school at the University of Toronto for Computer Science. Again, he left after one year, deciding school wasn't for him.

Shannon has two older half sisters, as well as a brother, Devon (18 months younger), a professional arm wrestler, and a sister, Ashleigh (10 years younger), who is a video artist.

Interest in Body Modification

Shannon's mother grew up in South Africa and exposed Shannon to books about African culture from an early age.

Shannon's father had a Jaguar tattoo since before Shannon was born (won in a wrestling competition).

At about age ten, Shannon began play piercing.

At about age sixteen, Shannon started tattooing himself, performing DIY scarification on himself and partners, as well as piercing himself (initially nipples and genitals) and beginning to stretch his ears.

Shannon believed that these interests are an in-grained and as unchangeable as sexual orientation.

Personal Body Modifications

Modifications

Several small, self-done tattoos and DIY brandings on his right arm and chest.

Extensive low quality "tribal" running from below his knee to his shoulder.

Heavy blackwork tattoos on his forearms (which he got on a dare), a blackwork collar, and blackwork on his legs and feet.

Industry Experience and the Beginning of BME

BME was started as a way for Shannon to share his own interests on the internet, and invited others to do the same. It snowballed, obviously.

Shannon worked at Stainless Studios beginning in 1994, primarily as a jeweller. This allowed him to take an active role in helping refine the Surface Bar and other inventions of piercing pioneer Tom Brazda.

Shannon worked briefly as a tattoo artist out of a scratcher-level home studio. He should have known better, even at the time.

Psychological Problems and their Influence on BME

Shannon suffers from extreme depression and anxiety problems and has attempted suicide several times.

"BME" stands for both "Body Modification Ezine" and "Be Me." The latter is because Shannon spent most of his life feeling like a "freak" and having a strong need to find other people like him.

Shannon believes that body modification, including cutting (at least temporarily), can give people a layer of control over themselves that can be extremely beneficial psychologically.

Trivia

Shannon was named after Claude Shannon.

Shannon's roommate at university left half way through the year to become a cast member of the musical Miss Saigon.

Shannon received the President's Award at the 10th annual APP convention.

Shannon drives a modified 2001 Porsche 996 and has owned a variety of other exotic vehicles.

Shannon's roommate while he was living in Philadelphia was Jon Cobb, who he considers a primary influence and mentor along with Tom Brazda.

The username "glider" (which Shannon used while he was a member of the IAM community) comes from his old radio show (CHRY 105.5 FM in Toronto) "Dilaudid Glide", a 5-hour mix of mostly ambient, experimental, and shoegazer music. It is also the name of an autonomous music performance robot he designed and built.

The day Shannon was born, his father went out and bought a Jaguar to celebrate (ie. the car fixation is genetic).

Other Work and Projects

After developing an IVR-based casino system, Shannon developed the first Internet Casino and has been featured in WIRED and other technology magazines multiple times.

Media Appearances

Shannon appeared in and wrote for hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles around the world, including the front cover of the premiere issue of the British magazine, Bizarre, as well as BURST and BUBKA in Japan, VideoText Journal, WIRED, Tattoo Savage, The Gargoyle, The Picture, Piercing Bible, Stuff, Fetish, Friday, GQ, Details, DS, Fashion Theory, CyberZone, Biba, Unity, Tatowier, Nyan2club, Skin&Ink, NetGuide, the Net, Playgirl, and many many more.

Shannon Larratt has been quoted in various academic literature.

Shannon appeared on a wide variety of television and radio shows including TLC, Discovery Channel, Richler Ink, and more.

Shannon appeared in the intro to the Clerks II film (playing "Ear Guy") alongside Rachel. They were able to appear in this movie after Rachel won a charity auction run by Kevin Smith in order to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.